Saturday, January 24, 2009

To the SLIS Community.

It's been too long since last I said a few words about what is going on in SLIS. So, it's nice to be back and able to share a few words about the School's progress. My "absence" is due to the need to finish the final Program Presentation, our accreditation report to the American Library Association (ALA), which took the majority of my time over the final weeks of December culminating with the safe transfer of the document to the printer on January 15th, 2009. So, the report is currently in the process of being printed, and soon thereafter, I will post it to the SLIS Web site at: http://slis.cua.edu/Accreditation. I encourage you to review the Synthesis and Overview section of the report if you do not have much time but want to get a flavor of the report.

Also, we are putting the finishing "touches" on the upcoming SLIS Symposium that will take place on January 30th, 2009. It is indeed a privilege to host so many of our colleagues and students at this event. We currently have over 100 participants and which is gratifying and indicates the need for such events to make connections and improve our research and practice. Thank you to all of you who submitted proposals and are contributing to this exciting event in SLIS's history.

The accreditation process is progressing. The next major milestone will be to send the External Review Panel (ERP) the report on February 9, 2009. They will review our report, which is certainly an impressive effort by the SLIS faculty, and visit us in March. They arrive on the 21st and 22nd, have a full day of meetings planned for the 22nd, 23rd and 24th, culminating in a briefing for the SLIS community on their findings and an initial discussion of their recommendations to the Committee on Accreditatin (COA). I have been visiting our SLIS students to tell them personally about our efforts and asking for their help in achieving re-accreditation for the School. I also need to assistance of our alumni, adjunct faculty, and employers to help us let the ERP know that SLIS has great students, faculty, staff and employers who value the School's existence and want to ensure the School remains to fulfill its unique mission in the Washington, D.C. region. I will publish the itinerary for our guest's visit as soon as it is finalized. It is likely that the ERP will want to meet with SLIS adjunct faculty, alumni and employers on Sunday the 22nd, around 3 in the afternoon. Please "save the date" and plan to join us at this important meeting to be held in the Mullen Library, May Gallery.

I was touched to see the outpouring of support from the SLIS students I have spoken to thus far. Several suggested they would like to contribute letters of support for the School to add to our sources of evidence for the ERP to review. Certainly, if you are interested in providing a testimonial, I would be most pleased to receive it. All student, alumni or faculty testimonials received will become part of our sources of evidence for the visit and we would be most appreciative to hear from any/all of you. Please send these testimonials to me, either by mail or email, and I will ensure they are shared with our visitors.

May I wish each and every one of you a happy and healthy new year. As we gear up for the visit of the accrediting team, I feel most gratified by the support I have received within the SLIS community. Thank you for your support as we prepare to present our school and community to the visiting team. I know we can help them to understand why SLIS is important to our University, region and the LIS field. I hope you will agree that SLIS has made a difference for you too.

Dean Kelley